Union alleges Watsonville nurse fired for labor activism

WATSONVILLE -- The California Nurses Association has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Watsonville Community Hospital after the firing of a veteran employee.

Registered nurse Tim Thomas worked in the hospital's operating room for nearly 30 years before he was terminated Tuesday, a little more than two weeks after he traveled to Florida to protest the merger of the hospital's parent company with another major health care organization.

Another registered nurse who participated in the protest, Veronica Poss, was fired on Monday from her job at Fallbrook Hospital.

Fallbrook and Watsonville are two of three California hospitals owned by Community Health Systems of Brentwood, Tenn.

Union leaders say the firings are retaliatory, and come at a time when the hospital chain is already under court order at three of its facilities in California and Ohio for retaliatory behavior and violation of nurses rights.

A group of Watsonville nurses protested the Thomas firing Tuesday, and a candlelight vigil in his support will be held 5-7 p.m. Friday at the hospital.

"We're viewing this as a systemwide attack on the nurses we represent throughout this hospital chain," said Damian Tryon, a labor representative with the California Nurses Association. "This is really them going after anyone willing to speak on behalf of nurses at the hospitals."

Watsonville hospital spokeswoman Cindy Weigelt declined to comment.

"Out of respect for the privacy of our employees, we do not comment on personnel matters," she wrote in an email.

A spokeswoman from Community Health Systems did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Tryon, the basis for the firing was a discrepancy between a doctor's note and a record Thomas kept. The incident occurred three years ago, and it's unclear how it came to light at this time, Tryon said. Neither Thomas or another employee involved remembered the matter, he said.

"I never have seen anybody pull something out of the blue like this," said Thomas, who has been the nurses chief union representative for most of his time at Watsonville. He said he believes the hospital used the incident as a pretext for a firing that was based on his union activity.

Thomas was active in the nurses union prior to the Jan. 8 protest in Naples, Fla., where Health Management Associate's shareholders were considering the merger with Community Health Systems. In addition to his union activity at Watsonville, he helped organize other medical facilities in the system.

The merger made Community Health Systems the largest hospital chain in the country with 206 facilities, mostly in rural communities. Nurses said they worry the chain's size makes patients with few treatment options vulnerable to lower standards of care and higher costs.